Flatbed Scanner

I have a Mac Book Pro and on the Snow Leopard version software. I need to scan old photos ( developed hard copy so not digital). After researching a bit, I decided that I would get a better scan from a dedicated flatbed scanner as opposed to an All In One Scanner. The diference between the two would be the scan resolution. Better quality with the flatbed.

1)I wonder what how others feel about this? Does it really matter if I use a flatbed or all in one?

2) can anyone recommend one that is compatible with a Mac?

I did buy an Epson Perfection V300 but it did not work well and I had to use Image Capture which I guess is a "work around" to get the Epson to work with my Mac. The scanner never scanned correctly and I returned it. Epson blamed it on the Mac Image Capture.

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Posted 10 February 2012 - 05:49 PM

I prefer a flatbed for scanning my pics. by all in one, do you mean it has a feeder that feeds the photos through? I've never used one of those so really can't comment on that. Right now I'm using my HP Photosmart D7100 and I like it alot. It does a great job with my photos and of course it's my printer as well. I have two other printers that I use when I'm at my desktop but I really don't like them as much as I do my D7100.

Either should be ok, Laurie. Its all down to the resolution of the scanner and what you feel is best for the work you have to do.

Most scanner manufacturers websites should have Mac (and Windows) based drivers available for the model of scanner you have. If your mac is having trouble scanning the images, just pop over and make sure you have the latest driver. Usually found on the support pages.

I know Macs are pretty good at picking up the correct drivers as soon as you plug your equipment in, but it could be that the driver is corrupted somehow.

A bit naughty of Epson to blame the Apple software. Their product should work on either platform!

I use a flat bed scanner. I took a little scanning class and they said that, as a general rule, you'll get better scans with a flat bed scanner. Sometimes the things that are made to do everything don't always do it quite as well. Depending on the size of what I'm scanning, I'll often scan at a resolution higher than 300- especially heritage photos. I usually do 600 if it is an average snapshot sized photo.

Sorry Sara, what I mean by "All In One" is that the machine will fax, scan, copy.
Dave, I did have Epson support on the phone 3 different times....about an hour each time. We had the latest driver downloaded ( 3 times) and since the scanner still do not scan well, by that I mean it scanned the pictures funny. It cut off half the pic or a corner of the pic. The scanner is made to scan 4 photos at once and I could not do that. I could scan 2 pics, but part of the pic was missing. So frustrating and then to tell me the problem is with Image Capture just added to the frustrations. I was told to check the settings in Image Capture on my Mac or or Apple said they would do it for about $70.00.
My solution was to return my scanner and now I am starting over.

Any other suggestions for a flatbed scanner for my Mac Book Pro?? Anyone??
Thank you so much! Laurie

wow, I have the V300 and it works well on my macbook pro. I do have to make adjustments for more than one pic. I haven't scanned in awhile so I don't remember what I did. I could never fit 4 but did three and kept them in the middle away from the outer edge. I don't have another suggestion but I wanted you to know that the V300 does work on mine.
hope you can find one you like.

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Posted 19 February 2012 - 05:07 AM

Hi. I have always found Canon to be a great product to work with Mac, plug and play. Our flatbed does a great scan. I would recommend looking at the specs for the resolution and buy the highest resolution for your budget. We recently bought a new one as the old one was no longer support with system upgrade (it was by old but worked well so gave it to a friend who could use it on their computer). Happy shopping.